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Monday, September 3, 2012

Pirates Game 134 Recap - Astros 5, Pirates 1

Well I am back after a really good weekend in Milwaukee. I was at the Brewers game on Saturday and Sunday and they were really hard to watch as the Pirates got swept and then all the Pirates did today was go out and mail one in against the Astros. It was bad, it was ugly, it wasn't what the doctor ordered and it sucked. Sometimes life sucks and this is one of those times as a Pirates fan.

Jeff Locke got the start today and actually pitched pretty well. His line wasn't all that good as he went only five innings and gave up five runs. He gave up seven hits and struck out six so that wasn't terrible and he was hurt by some tough luck. I thought it was a good start for Locke but the Pirates lost. Meh.

The offense was nowhere to be found outside of Garrett Jones. Jones had three of the Pirates five hits and continues to just play outstanding offensively as his line is up to .291/.328/.554 and is going to get a massive raise through arbitration this offseason. Outside of that Pedro Alvarez and Clint Barmes were the only others to have a hit. Bad times.

The bullpen was good again today as Kyle McPherson, Hisanori Takahashi and Jared Hughes combined to pitch four shutout innings where they only gave up three hits and struck out eight. Another outstanding job by the pen who looks like they got a little bit of their mojo back after struggling for a good time.

The big problem with the Pirates is that they can't put it all together. Today they got decent starting pitching and some great relief pitching but the offense was nowhere to be found. Yesterday they couldn't get a shutout half inning and the offense was hitting the ball all over the place. If they could get a full game together with all facets they they could get some wins but it's just not happening right now.

While things have been about as bad as it could be the Pirates are now 2.5 games back of the wild card. The collapse is upon us as the Pirates are only six games over .500 now and at a place where they need to get a couple of wins or it could get ugly. I am not ready to panic as I think the Pirates could not make the playoffs and the season would still be a wild success but how well the Pirates played up until the All Star break really brought some different expectations. I am not saying the Pirates are playing well or this isn't disappointing but there is still around a month left to the season and they are only 2.5 back. The collapse is starting and probably has been happening for a little while now but the story still isn't finished on the season.